Sunday, November 3, 2013

Halloween Costume post 1! Other people's costumes...

So I'm a baker, right? As well as teaching, I work at a bakeshop. But there, I'm known as a sewist, because duh, everyone bakes. Thus, costume-making for a co-worker was bound to come up. 
It seems like yesterday we casually talked about my friend Vicki being the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland and a friend being the Cheshire cat. Her brother's fiance throws a costume birthday party every year, so they do it up. (I love it when people go hard on costumes, she made the crown, bunny-ears and tophat accessories herself...!)We hashed it through on a night out with her friends, and it ended with me doing a tunic for White Rabbit, and a bowtie for the Mad Hatter as well.
I had so much fun and I'm really proud of how they turned out! 


I made a sketch of the costume inspired by the one in the Tim Burton movie: 

and drafted it according to a peplum top she lent me; I find that this is a great way to shortcut a ton of fittings or pattern drafts, especially because she wanted a jacket-like top to wear over a tank and leggings. 
The way I broke it down, there were several fabrics: a black costume satin for the main (back bodice, sleeves and top and sides of the bodice) and white broadcloth (collar) from Joann.com, broadcloth in red (skirt and arm bands) from a brick-and-mortar Joann left over from those red hoods, black (lining the bodice) from Westchester Fabrics, and a gold tissue lame (center bodice and skirt) from Hartsdale Fabrics

Basically you take a princess-seam pattern and piece it out, with the various colors and fabrics corresponding to the drafted parts... the seam becomes the guideline for the gold triangular bodice pieces, and an additional seam goes across the top to make the black upper bodice separate from the gold. I continued the princess seams down to a point instead of ending them at the waist. To line the front (since the lame is pretty sheer), one whole pattern piece equivalent to the two black satin and one gold piece from black broadcloth. 

The skirt pieces are rectangles, in two layers -- gold on top, and slightly longer red that lays a little flatter. Lastly, ruffle-edged ribbon for the vertical stripes down the center bodice, and gift ribbon for the stripes on the puff sleeves (since she assured me she wouldn't be putting it through the washer's hot cycle anytime!). Wouldn't you know it, after the fact I found some beaded trim at the home-dec section of Hartsdale Fabrics that would have been perfect for the top of the gold bodice. Ah, well...

Closures are heart-shaped red snaps -- I know right, perfect!